For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health I go to shows at The Church. I go when I am broke. I go when I don’t even have tickets. I go when I feel like shit. But there is nothing in those vows that says anything about enduring the ungodly sweltering hell of a church basement.

I get it. It’s punk. It’s cool. No air conditioning. Sweaty, hipster-punks moshing to Blacklisted or bopping to Passion Pit (before they got too cool and moved to the Mann Center). But sometimes I wonder if I will come out of the show alive. I think it might be a legitimate health risk to not have air conditioning in The Church. Maybe only a health risk for us elderly folks but a risk all the same.

The fact that I have yet to see someone pass out at a summer show at The Church is quite miraculous. I’ve seen fights, making out, drugs, weird dudes in weird hats and half naked girls but never heatstroke. I might be the first.

The fans, they so kindly provide, just don’t cut it. Sure, if you are lucky enough to stand directly in front of it you can catch a soft breeze but the people around you will give you dirty looks for hogging the breathable air. Otherwise, the fans just stir the oppressive air around.

Maybe I’m just not punk enough. Maybe I’m too old. But a vow is a vow, and till death do us apart. And death might just do The Church and I apart when I sweat my skin off at the next show.

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Philadelphia live music is being put at risk! A new bill, (Bill No. 100267), being introduced by City Councilmen Darrell Clarke and Bill Greenlee, will literally change the face of the Philly live music scene as we know it. You can read the actual bill here http://webapps.phila.gov/council/attachments/10044.pdf.

Basically the bill would require all show promoters to apply for a permit with the Philadelphia police 30 days before each show. Think of the shear number of permits that would be for places that have nightly or even weekly live shows. The permit would include detailed information about the event including security measures, expected turnout, business license number, even a copy of the contract between promoters and performers.

As you can see this would be devastating for promoters. It would put an end to last minute shows, changes in line-ups, changes in venue and hinder shows as non-profit events.

What’s really scary is that police can deny a permit up until 10 days before an event for whatever reason they see fit.

So as you can see, we need your help in getting the word out about this bill. You can make yourself heard by writing to the city council. PhillyMetal.com has a simple form you can fill out to send a protest e-mail to City Council President Anna Verna and the Councilmen who introduced the bill, Darrell Clarke and Bill Greenlee. http://phillymetal.com/protest/ .

Or you can sign the protest here http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/bill100267/

Here is a link to The City Papers article about the bill http://citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/13/a-million-stories

Thanks for your help! Spread the word.

Download Blur’s new track “Fool’s Day” for free from their site. http://www.blur.co.uk/

The track is a modern take on the classic Blur sound and feel. Recorded for limited edition sale on vinyl in the UK. It’s now available here for your listening pleasure!

Sea of Cowards is not a neat little package of an album. In fact it seems to be pulling at the threads left by The Dead Weather’s debut album Horehound, but this only makes it that much more appealing. Jack White and his second super group manage to take their mad scientist approach to blues-rock a step further in this album. Sea of Cowards doesn’t house radio hits or sentimental sing-a-longs, but it manages to contain a shit ton of attitude, frustration and unedited in your face rock’n’roll.

Alison Mosshart (VV of The Kills) sounds more at home in this album. “The Difference Between Us” fits her like a black leather fingerless glove. She then pushes the boundaries with no apologies in “Gasoline.” Mosshart and White share the floor each respectfully out for blood.

Not to be over looked is Queens of the Stone Age’s own, Dean Fertita (also toured with The Raconteurs) who’s guitar and keyboards set the tone for the albums ménage-a-trois of pop, blues and psycadellic rock.

This is definitely the darkest and most raw of White’s recent projects. For some it may feel unfinished and self-indulgent. To others it will feel honest, dirty and daring. It all depends on if  you like your music shaken or stirred.

Sea of Cowards will be released tomorrow (May 11, 2010).

Upon first listen of Delorean’s album Subiza, which is available on Itunes for digital download due to popular request, I was having a tough time figuring out what I was listening to. After listening to a few tracks, I decided to not worry about how I was going to label it and just to pay attention to the sound of it, and what made it so hypnotically catchy and yet still unique. Was it the steady beat that seemed to pound in every song, inviting even the most timid head to bob despite whom may be watching? At no point during the album’s 42 minutes was I overpowered by the choruses or disappointed by the bridges, which can be misplaced or out of place entirely in electronic music. The album had a constant, deliberate pace, but broke out of formation every now and then with playful grooves like “Simple Graces” and “Come Wander”. It managed to stay cohesive though, with the deep thump of the bass and kick running like a backbone through each song. I particularly enjoyed the finisher track, “Its All Ours”. It opens with a hypnotic jungle beat, which breaks into a bright verse. I don’t mean to sound cheesy, but I’m going to anyway- it sounds like a sunrise. Although I was overall impressed and intrigued by the album, I felt the vocals were a bit over-compressed and too heavy on the reverb during some songs. How many electronic songs can you listen to before the drums start to sound the same and each song just kind of runs into the next? For me, it doesn’t take that many, so keeping me interested is commendable. Each song had a distinct sound and feel though. More importantly, each song sounded like a Delorean song, not like 4 minutes of mindless drum and synth loops.

This record is not a far cry sonically from Aryton Senna. The 2009 E.P. sounds like the prologue to a fantastic daydream, but the band wasn’t entirely happy with it musically according to a recent XLR8R interview. The band wanted to expand from their roots in disco-punk or whatever-you-want-to-call-it and focus on the electronic aspect of their music, since the club music scene is also a large influence. Hence, Subiza is the result not of a band changing direction , but rather exploring and uncovering the hidden paths and altering and personalizing the obvious ones.

-Tehuti

Pitchfork, I love you. I really do. Sometimes I find myself reading you for hours on end. But you seem to have this creepy 1984-like ability to see and know about everything. You know all the bands I like, you interview all the bands I like and just when I think I am responsible for discovering a brand new band, I find you have already discovered them. A friend of a friend of a friend’s band who play in a dingy basement in the suburbs and have yet to release an album or even an EP, yup you know about them.

It is like we live in this dictatorship and Pitchfork is our Stalin. Telling us who to listen to, what music to like, and informing us of when a band is no longer cool. I tend to agree with most of Pitchfork’s rulings, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. I wish one day Pitchfork, you would make an enormous mistake and support a band that sucked. That would be the end of you! I could finally say to myself, I don’t agree with you Pitchfork! Take that!

I’d like to think I like the music I like because I think it’s great not because Pitchfork tells me so. Maybe it just so happens that Pitchfork likes the same music as me? Maybe I am the one dictating what is cool! Yeah, I think that’s better.

You know who else carries a pitchfork, Pitchfork? That’s right, the devil!